--Next congrats to aged Rockies starter Jamie Moyer for becoming the oldest pitcher in MLB history to record a win besting Jack Quinn of the 1932 Brooklyn Dodgers by 70 days though Satchel Paige and several Dominicans with birth certificates that could make Danny Almonte's father wince may take exception to this claim. Moyer even got a mention on the Today Show though we're not sure if it was in reference to his historic performance or if Willard Scott was wishing him a Happy Birthday?
Of course it all raises the question of why this Ancient ex-Mariner is even pitching in the majors and more specifically why in Colorado? Despite an ERA of Pi (3.14) Moyer has been cake for hitters who are banging out a .308 BA against him resulting in only one team win in his 5 starts. And worse is likely to come. Prior to his 2011 Elba-esque exile Moyer's downfall had been the longball, allowing 47 in a little more than 270 IPs in 2009-10. Sending him to the hill in the thin-aired environs of Coors Field is akin to putting a fork in the microwave or my cream cheese white ass in a tanning booth...there's bound to be sparks and a lot of pain. The larger issue Moyer's usage raises is what direction are the Rockies heading? Sure with a weak division and an extra Wild Card team this year there's hope for October baseball, but just because graybeards Moyer, Marco Scutaro, Todd Helton, Ramon Hernandez and Rafael Betancourt somehow get you there doesn't mean you'll be going far down that road. As a middlin' payroll team (18th) would Colorado be better served in the long run with Ubaldo Jimenez trade chip Alex White in the rotation in place of Moyer, 24 year-old fireballer Rex Brothers closing over Betancourt and 20 somethings like Tyler Colvin, Jonathan Herrera and Chris Nelson seeing full-time ABs over Scutaro, Helton and Jason Giambi? Time will tell, but if the Rox miss out on what could be some easy Division Championships and Wild Card pickins' while at the same time getting passed over by the full blown rebuilding mode Padres in coming years the roots of the problem could lie in the short-sightedness of moves like signing Moyer.
--Just because something seems to be the natural progression doesn't necessarily mean it's a good idea. For example ketchup/mustard in a squeeze bottle: Good Idea...Relish, with its much higher water content: Not So Much. In fact, if I wanted my tongue to become that intimate with soggy buns I'd "roofie" Dana Torres. And all this brings us to our defense of Yankee relief pitcher David Robertson who has been taking heat on the NY talk radio circuit for saying Rafael Soriano should leapfrog him for the vacant closer's role because he's not sure he feels comfortable in that spot.
Now we agree that Robertson should keep that kinda talk between himself and his manager since no matter the choice it opens Joe Girardi up to second-guessing on those ocassional Blown Save nights, but that doesn't mean addressing this situation open and honestly isn't important.
Many years ago the deeply observant writer and ESPN analyst Peter Gammons pointed out that having the mental makeup to be a closer is almost as important as having the "stuff". By way of example he pointed to Indian/Astro/Brewer Doug Jones who despite not playing a full MLB season till after his 30th birthday and possessing a fastball that couldn't intimidate porcelain still recorded five 30+ save seasons including 36 at the age of 40. Jones' success, Gammons pointed out, was bred of a fearlessness that enabled him to throw any pitch, in any count, anywhere in the strike zone and let the proverbial chips fall where they may. Conversely Gammons noted that current MLB Network analyst Dan Plesac was equipped with upper 90s heat, a nasty slider and all the testicular fortitude of a court servant in the Qing Dynasty. In spite of the former he burned out as a closer by 27 when the latter caught up to him as evidenced by a walk rate that nearly doubled overnight and a K rate that collapsed with both only returning to normalcy when he was moved into a more Low Leverage role.
Even in this increasingly Sabermetric era even hardcore stat geeks admit it's hard to get a handle on reliever projections because of their yearly small sample sizes. To this end, and much to the chagrin of early birds on Fantasy Waiver Wires, 32 year-old Santiago Casilla was bumped to closer by Bruce Bochy after Brian Wilson's demise in San Francisco despite the fact that 3 years younger setup man Sergio Romo and his back-to-back years of sub-2.20 ERAs seemed the heir apparent. To date Casilla is 5-for-5 on save chances and Romo has yet to give up a run in his standard 8th inning role. So maybe there's still room left in this emotion-less, binomial world for managerial intuition and maybe Yankee fans shouldn't be so hard on David Robertson, he just may be doing them and Joe Girardi a favor.
Robertson & Soriano, Romo & Casilla...Closers are like breasts, it's always nice to have a good pair to fall back (or forward) on...
--And in other bad news for the Yankees Freddy Garcia was demoted from the rotation on 4/28 after two of the worst beatdowns this side of the Rodney King Video at which mention I would like to point out that if I'm ever getting bludgeoned by the police, as Bob Goldthwait once said, by all means put down the video camera and HELP ME! Between the Pineda/Montero trade and the decision to keep Garcia over Bartolo Colon (3-2, 2.83 ERA, 28/6 K/BB with Oakland) it would seem to be a bad offseason of mound decisions for GM Brian Cashman. Fortunately being the Yankees GM is like being that girl pictured above dating me in that you never have to admit you're wrong. Before guys like Garcia start conjuring up images of Kei Igawa and his Dr. Spock sideburns in your fanbase's memory you simply change the equation by bringing back Andy Pettitte which should happen any day now. Then there's the trade deadline where a rejuvenated Eric Bedard (Pit.), a steady Wandy Rodriguez (Hou.) or a Rent-a-Arm Roy Oswalt could fall into your lap. That notwithstanding age, injuries and declining production may be catching up to not only the Red Sox but the Yankees as well, meaning the balance of power which has already listed to the Tampa/Texas/Detroit side could go overboard harder than Natalie Wood in the near future. So how does a small market team make hay...
--...in a word pitching...no make that PITCHING! More specifically Starting Pitching, but you get the point. You see it seems that if you grab enough young, stud hitters a few will shake out with MLB talent and other veterans and platoon-types can be found to fill in around them. Things are not the same when it comes to harvesting Starters. First off the Starting Pitcher like a QB in the NFL has the ball and control of the game in his hands half the time, and if it's not always easy for an NFL GM to find a competent QB imagine the Sisyphusean task of his small market baseball counterpart in trying to find 4 or 5. Thus it seems the idea of simply stockpiling young arms at the expense of all else is not such a far-fetched idea.
Take for example the biggest small market success stories of the 21st Century-the "Moneyball Oakland Athletics and the current Tampa Bay Rays. In their combined 8 playoff appearances since 2000 these teams have averaged a finish of a pedestrian 6.6 out of 14 AL teams in hitting while finishing 2.4 out of 14 in pitching. Breaking it down further neither team ever finished worse than 3rd in Runs Allowed in any playoff year, but on 5 of 8 occasions ended up 8th or worse in terms of Runs Scored. Obviously Park Factors, Defensive Efficiency and other ancillary metrics play into this, but without Geek-ing things up too much it's clear having cheap control over the likes of Hudson/Mulder/Zito and Shields/Garza/Price goes a long way to explaining how these clubs defied the odds. Heck, just seeing the Rays atop every major sports site's Power Rankings while trotting out a lineup filled with the likes of Jose Molina, Elliott Johnson, Jeff Keppinger, Sean Rodriguez and Reid Brignac is almost enough to make our case.
Let's call this girl a quick Sorbet to cleanse your pallette for our final point...And that point is that teams who defy this logic seem to be treading in the same pee-warmed shallow end of the Playoff Chase pool year after year. Case in point is this year's Kansas City Royals who several fans took issue (alright one guy) when we lumped them in with the fruitless likes of the Pittsburgh Pirates in last week's article. His claim was the same as the argument put forth for K.C.'s resurgence by writers in the preaseason that being-this team's got young talent, see: Hosmer, Gordon, Moustakas, Soria, Crow. No arguments about the abilities of the aforementioned other than that none of them take the hill every fifth day. Instead the Royals are still struggling because of this:
1. Bruce Chen: His whole recent career could be summed in one inning last year in Chicago where he threw what seemed like 106 pitches to walk the bases loaded around two outs. He then faced White Sox 3B Brent Morel better known as the Will Rogers of Plate Discipline in that he never met a pitch he didn't like. After 12 pitches that showed a distinct aversion to the strike zone Morel popped up to the catcher prompting the ever-analytical Hawk Harrelson to comment, "Tough break Brent-y, get him next time"...yes, wonderful. This year Chen has taken it to another level by frequently refusing to even throw the ball toward home plate attempting 10 pickoff throws in one AB during a recent game vs. the Twins. This slop has worked to the tune of a 24-15 record over the last 2 seasons, but breaking it down we find him 1-4 with a 7+ ERA vs. Boston/New York/Texas so it can only take you so far. And at 35 years-old that's your Ace...
2. Luke Hochevar: This guy is obviously not coming to the park in a little yellow school bus because there's nothing special at all about him. OK, he was a #1 overall draft pick in 2006 and he hasn't allowed a HR in 25.2 IP this year, but his ERA in 2012 is 7.36 and it's never been below 4.68 in his previous 4 full seasons as a pro. He'd be a decent piece at the back end of a rotation, but that's why drafting young pitchers is like bringing Wet Wipes to Andy Dick's house...you can never have enough.
3. Danny Duffy: Duffy made only 15 starts above A-ball before being thrust into the rotation last year at 22. His age and relative success make him the true Ace of this staff. But while a club like the Yankees is nursing along pitching prospects such as D.J. Martinez, David Phelps and Adam Warren in the minors until their age 25 season and beyond Duffy is burning up innings on the highest level in a lost cause. It may not be a bad thing, but it does show the difficulty and precariousness that teams like this deal with every year.
4. Everett Teaford: It's a testament to how far schools have come in their Anti-Bullying campaigns over the years that a kid with a name like this could be found excelling on the athletic fields instead of hiding behind a Contra-Bassoon in the Band Room. Beyond that he's a 28 YO who relies on guile, has a K rate in the low 5's and reminds Royal fans of the name Mark Teahen...none of which is good.
5. Jonathan Sanchez: Mr. Sanchez is only casually acquainted with the strike zone and as such was shipped out of San Francisco for what I believe amounted to an autographed picture of Jamie Quirk and a side of ribs from Jack Stack's. He set out this year to find the strike zone, but as his 19 BB in 22 IP suggest it keeps ditching him. Well at least it wasn't a Pete LaCock autograph...
6. Luis Mendoza: Finally a "Mendoza Line" for pitchers. Luis has conveinently established it at his current ERA of 6.00 and as soon as John Lackey finishes rehabbing his elbow he can get back to trying to crack that barrier.
And thus it looks like it's still gonna be awhile before the ghosts of Larry Gura, Paul Splittorff, Dennis Leonard, Charlie Leibrandt, Bret Saberhagen and Mark Gubicza are resurrected in the Heartland.
You know what forget BBQ, suddenly I want Italian food...Finished in every sense of the word...
